Monday, May 30, 2011

put a bird on it

From Schmidt & Weston blog




I was at a party once full of much hipper, younger people than myself. From where I was sitting, I would describe them as hipsters. Not to their faces of course. Hipsters don't like being defined, most especially as a hipster.


Instead I asked "What is a hipster?"


Predictably enough, they all groaned and launched into descriptions that could have matched anyone of them... and probably me as well, while explaining that none of them were hipsters. They all loathed hipsters.


Except I don't wear skinny jeans or fedoras and I do care about things and apparently smiling is not a hipster quality. I do try to smile.


The thing is, I don't like to be defined either.


Turns out that me having this blog, a love of Wes Anderson films, a cruiser bike, having lived in Mile End of Montréal and then East Vancouver, a taste for high quality coffee, a macbook pro, musical tastes that are best defined as eclectic, and even being a frustrated documentary film maker may contribute to me being viewed as a hipster.


Also, I like to put birds on things.










I would like to say that I'm not a hipster... but the more insistent I am, the less convincing it sounds.






Saturday, May 28, 2011

coffee growing in Vietnam

From Schmidt & Weston blog



The best place to find good coffee in Vietnam isn't in the coffee growing district. It is in Hanoi.







Saturday, May 21, 2011

early crew 2009

From Schmidt & Weston blog




2009 was certainly not my favourite year. Lots happened that was not good. However, this crew was certainly one of the highlights of 2009 for me. This our last day on the fire together. Someone had been given me command of 3 bulldozers to do my bidding and smash whatever I told them to. That could have gone horribly wrong since smashing stuff becomes addictive and with the power of 3 dozers you can knock down many many trees. With all our collective bashing about, we managed to save a home or two. It does feel pretty wonderful the day with a sooty face.





Wednesday, May 18, 2011

a kite

From Schmidt & Weston blog




I used to keep a kite in my forestry survival kit. I kept a lot of strange things in that little bag. There is even a rumour that I used to keep a watermelon in my survival bag and nothing else. I didn't do that. A man named Gumby did though.

Mostly I put strange things in my pack because my biggest problem when waiting for forest fires was battling boredom. That is the thing about survival people rarely count on; it can be exceedingly dull.





the rappeller

From Schmidt & Weston blog




Rappelling out of a helicopter is one of those perfect moments, when it is done well.






Monday, May 16, 2011

some of my friends

From Schmidt & Weston blog































some people think we're heroes






Right now some of my friends and many of the people I worked with are fighting forest fires in Alberta. This is a short film I made a few months ago and I'm reposting it now.

There might not be much left of Slave Lake by the end of today. One of my closest friends sent me an email about her day trying to save people in the town. From what she wrote, and knowing her, she went far beyond her job description. She always does.

Few of us in Alberta Rapattack would ever call ourselves heroes. As a group, we were pretty shy about the word, so we mocked it. The truly impressive things we did on our crews were never seen by the public, and often went unrewarded. In fact, we would often get in trouble for our extra effort.

On the rare occasion that we did get some sort of publicity, we would laugh at how the media portrayed us. They always get it wrong somehow.






paddle wheel

From Schmidt & Weston blog






Friday, May 13, 2011

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

park

From Schmidt & Weston blog




One of the joys of not owning a car is that I never need to look for a parking space. Ever.

On the down side, I do have to worry about unstable bus schedules and my precious bike being stolen.





rainy saturday

From Schmidt & Weston blog





skyline and ship

From Schmidt & Weston blog





Friday, May 6, 2011

post 200 - more train tracks

From Schmidt & Weston blog




It's been a long week watching someone else's wedding. Despite all the stuff going on in the world this past week... and the interesting things that happened to me last Thursday, I just don't feel like writing. So here is a picture.










me

Thank you for visiting. I live in Vancouver now, but I've lived in other places too. I take photos and make short films about things and people. Please comment and be argumentative. It amuses me.

My main website is schmidtandweston.com

other posts

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